Intermezzo: Enter Vanguard
by Deathzealot
Summary: During the Seven-Year Time skip an Earth Defense Force Dai-Gun Battleship responds to a rogue Beastmen attack on a developing human city during its patrol. One-Shot. Part One of the Intermezzo Series.


**Disclaimer: I do not in any way at all own the anime known as Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, including characters, mecha, story, and plot. So please no lawyers from hell, for I do not have any money to give them, the money I do have is for school. I do however own the plot of this story, my own created characters, and my created mecha for the purpose of this story. **

**Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann  
>Intermezzo: Enter Vanguard<strong>

**Written by William R. Woods**

**Aka "Deathzealot**

**Summary: **During the Seven-Year Time skip an Earth Defense Force Dai-Gun Battleship responds to a rogue Beastmen attack on a developing human city during its patrol. Part One of the Intermezzo Series.

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_Earth Defense Force Battleship _Dai-Vanguard_  
>+3.6 Years after the Fall of Teppelin<br>Great Wasteland _

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The Great Wasteland, so named due to the large amount of just nothingness, just dirt covered ground only broken up by large rocks or small mountains here or there. It was a sad reminder of the wars fought in the past of the planet. However something new and different suddenly disturbed the Great Wasteland, a large red and blue painted ship that cruised along on a series of levitation devices that very few understood. The ship bore similar lines to that of a more famous battleship that had fought in the past to free the human race from the Beastmen Empire, the _Dai-Gurren_. However it was still different then its more famous counterpart, its legs and feet where shorter basically having the ship lower to the ground, next it had no arms it instead had a pair of catapult decks that launch its force of Gunmen into battle, and lastly it had no head it instead sported a normal command tower at the aft of the ship. Also thanks to its new Hover Levitation System built into the feet of the large battleship it was far more mobile and maneuverable then the _Dai-Gurren _thanks to this, though it could not fly like the smaller _Dai-Gunkao _series Dai-Guns that had been equipped with Levispheres and fought alongside the larger Brigade Flagship during the Battle of Teppelin. Flying from a mast attached to the rear of the command tower, where a pair of flags, one the new flag of the new United Earth Government and the other a flag similar in looks to the one that the Dai-Gurren Brigade had carried into battle.

As the large battleship continued to cruise along the numerous weapons on its hull glinted dangerously in the sun as it cruised past a large collection of boulders and rocks. Thanks to being similar in build to the _Dai-Gurren _had a similar layout of its weapons, with three large triple-barreled main guns that made up its main long-range armament, supported by a few smaller duel-barrel guns on the shoulders of the tower and underneath the belly of the ship. The ship also sported many small flak guns along the back and sides of the ship allowing it throw up heavy anti-air fire for use against flying Gunman.

On the bridge of this mighty vessel its captain sat in his command chair looking over the bridge of the ship that closely resembled the one on its counterpart. His dark blue and red uniform stretched across his large like frame, while a peaked cap sat on his head symbolizing his status as the Captain of the ship. His face while weathered and tanned it appeared that the man was young like many in his crew, also a large scar running along his jaw to his nose. This man is Captain Morgan Littner a large man who had fought in the Battle of Teppelin along with rest of the Dai-Gurren Brigade onboard the _Dai-Gurren _itself as a member of the ship's deck crew. While his more famous counterparts became leading figures in the new government he became the captain of the one of the new Defense Force's patrolling Dai-Gun Battleships that kept an eye out for raiding Beastmen forces who refused to surrender after the death of the Spiral King, and now raided defenseless underground villages along with the growing above-ground cities.

Behind the man stood a shorter woman who sported a pair of cat-like ear on her head and bore a swinging tail making her a beastwoman, one of the few in fact, who had joined the new Defense Force to fight against her fellow Beastmen. She like her captain wore the blue and red uniform of the Defense Force's Mobile Patrol Force though modified for her gender and species. The small cat-woman was one of the few Government loyal Beastmen to join the Defense Forces and had constantly been hated by her peers but she pulled through it all without returning the favor earning her position on-board the _Dai-Vanguard_. Unlike many of beastmen she had a far more human like figure, her only beast like features where her tail and ears. This was due to her being a member of the newest generation of the Beastmen who all sported more human like features which had in the past only been reserved for some of the more high-ranking Beastmen like Supreme General Adiane and Commander Viral. As their ship continued to cruise along she sighed and looked over at her towering commander.

"It has been a quiet day so far hasn't it sir," she said out of the blue making the captain blink in surprise before looking over at her with a frown on his face.

"I do believe so First Lieutenant it makes me nervous for it means that they are up to something," Captian Littner responded with a shake of his head to his second-in-command First Lieutenant Urieko. The cat like beastwoman only nodded at her superior's response, for like the captain she knew that the various Beastmen Warlords out here in the wastelands raided or all-out attacked the various human settlements daily therefore them not attacking was a sign that something was up.

"We have received no news of attacks on any of the outlying villages or on the cities. Either the Warlords are gathering their forces or preparing for something big like that attack on the Capital earlier this month," the beastwoman responded with a narrowed gaze as she turned to look out of the bridge's view-port at the passing wasteland around the ship. The Captain could only nod in agreement at this statement, for the last time they did this about a few weeks ago before they tried to attack Kamina City directly with a force of thirty-some odd Gunmen and three of the light _Dai-Gunkon _Type Dai-Gun Battleships, after being quiet for several days. The attack failed when the Gurren Lagann leading a small force of Defense Force Gunmen stopped the attack cold. Therefore to many Defense Force veterans having various Beastmen Warlords quiet is a cause for worrying. The two were dragged from their thoughts as the door leading to the bridge slid open to admit Flight Lieutenant Ray Hiru the senior pilot on the ship into the bridge. Urieko flinched back from the other man, due to him being one of the most vocal over her being part of the crew. The man like many of the Defense Force Gunman pilots wore a long trench like coat over his uniform which besides the rank emblem and the mailed fist pin of a Gunman pilot was the same. After shooting the Beastwoman a look of anger the pilot turned his attention to the seated Captain who was sighing at the other man's anger over beastmen, though he couldn't blame him.

"Captain what is going on? I would think those damn Beastmen Rouges would attack something already?" the pilot asked his noted drawl as he walked over to the other side of the Captain chair from the beastwoman. The Captain noted that he did not give any look at Urieko during this, and didn't know if he should be pleased or worried over that, before sighing and turning his attention to the pilot.

"Well Flight Lieutenant it seems they are quiet, too quiet, they haven't been this quiet since the days before the Attack on Kamina City," the Captain noted with a thoughtful look on his face, while the pilot simply blinked surprise before scowling as the statement sunk in. Unlike the Captain and some of the others on the ship the pilot had not really part of Team Dai-Gurren during the Battle of Teppelin, instead he had been part of the reinforcements from the other villages. Therefore unlike Team Dai-Gurren who have gotten used to friendly Beastmen like Urieko and others like her, he had not had the chance to do so hence why he was so local about it.

"This is just what we don't need right now is those bastards going silent on us," the pilot growled out with a sneer eying the beastwoman next to him with contempt that made the younger first officer squirm in response. Captain Lettner only sighed at this before nodding in agreement with the pilot.

"Yes we are in the process of upgrading the Defense Forces, therefore the majority of the ships of the Patrol Forces are deactivated while they are getting upgraded," the Captain explained with a grimace on his face. Thanks to the Defense Forces mainly using captured and converted equipment from the days of the Beastman Empire and with the rapid development of various new technologies the ships of the Patrol Force needed to be upgraded when new stuff is introduced. The pilot could only nod in agreement before turning back towards the bridge's main hatch with a flourish of his long coat.

"Very well I shall be in the hanger looking over my Gunman if anyone needs me," he mentioned and with that he was gone making the poor first officer sigh in relief before turning her own attention to her own duties on the bridge leaving the side of the Captain to look over what the rest of the bridge-crew have been doing. Meanwhile the Captain just leaned back with a shake of his head and continued looking out at the passing landscape through the view-port.

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><em>Gunmen Hanger<br>Earth Defense Force Battleship _Dai-Vanguard  
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Inside the large and spacious hanger of the ship Flight Lieutenant Ray Hiru strode along the floor of the hanger towards a dark blue painted Gunmen standing in its docking cradle alongside the other Gunmen of the ship's two assigned squadrons. Like the majority of the Gunmen in the new Defense Forces the majority of these Gunmen were of Gekka II type based on the Gurren Gunmen that had been captured and piloted by the hero Kamina during those early days of the Beastmen War. The original Gekkas had been produced by Lettner Village out of scrap and the remains of Beastmen Gunmen destroyed during the battle to take the _Dai-Gurren _which had been dropped off at the village before the large battleship started its journey to Teppelin. These Gekkas would be the first mass-produced human built Gunmen and would be given to the Dai-Gurren Reinforcement Fleet as their main Gunmen alongside the handful of captured Beastmen Gunmen. The senior pilot therefore had been piloting the Gekka since then, and his current Gunman was the original he had piloted during the battles to capture the numerous Dai-Gun Battleships to transport them to Teppelin and later during the Battle of Teppelin itself, now just upgraded to the better Mark II model that incorporated new technology developed by the New Earth Government during the last few years. It was currently the oldest Gunmen besides the Gurren Lagann itself, still serving the Defense Forces with its compatriots all being destroyed or recycled into something else.

With an explosive sigh the experienced pilot turned his attention to the other Gunmen in the hanger to see First Squadron all lined up alongside his own Gekka Gunmen, while the second squadron comprised of six Gun-Kaisers where lined up opposite of the slightly smaller Gekka IIs of First Squadron. These slightly larger Gunmen where based on the Dayakkaiser Artillery Gunmen originally created by Littner Village out of the remains of other destroyed Beastmen Gunmen, similar to the later created Gekkas. The differences between the Dayakkaiser and its Gun-Kaiser counterpart lay mainly with the new paint job, which is a deep green with white accents, and the Dayakkaiser's arms replaced with a pair of smaller secondary cannons. Other than those differences the two are basically the same. These hulking Gunmen provided the ship and the Gekka IIs with mobile artillery support if needed. Often while First Squadron attacked enemy Gunmen head on the Gun-Kaisers of Second Squadron stayed behind to help protect the _Dai-Vanguard_ and covering the First from the rear.

Looking up the Flight Lieutenant could see the craft of Third Squadron, comprised of not Gunmen but of newly designed and produced Gunliners which were transports and in a pinch assault craft safely secured in their own cradles waiting to be used. They were mainly used for transporting Troops or supplies to and from the ship, often towards villages that needed help in some way wither it be food or desperately needed supplies. If needed these craft could be equipped with rocket launchers, machine guns, and other weapons and used to support the deployed Gunmen Squadrons if needed.

Suddenly at a corner of his eye Ray spotted on of his younger pilots appearing at his side, which made him look over at the other pilot with a raised eyebrow. Since his squadrons had various veterans and green pilots mixed together sometimes the more green pilots stuck to the more experienced pilots to either be helped to learn new skills or just being annoying luckily for his sanity this particular pilot was of the former not the latter.

"Yes Ensign Nerim what can I do for you?" he asked looking the other pilot over to see him in a stained jumpsuit meaning he had been helping the mechanics service the Gunmen. That is one major reason he liked the younger pilot since he tried to learn everything he could including how to repair a Gunmen if needed.

"Sorry to bother you sir, but I have been hearing some news from other sources that the Gekkas and Gun-Kaisers would be replaced by these new Grapearls we have been hearing about? Is this true?" the young pilot asked with a frown looking up at the slightly taller senior pilot. Ray blinked in surprise at this for as far as he knew the Grapearls where many months away from active deployment and still pretty much a rumor as far as many have heard.

"Yes the Grapearls will eventually replace the Gunmen as our primary unit, it is orders from the New Government saying that Gunmen remind many too much of the rein of the Beastmen Empire," Ray responded as he turned to look over at his Gekka. The other pilot snorted from his side and stared up as his own basic colored Gekka II.

"No offense sir, but that is just plain crap. Yes Gunmen would remind many of the Beastmen and their attacks on the Villages but the Gurren-Lagann is now quite famous. It has become quite a legend by itself, and the Gekkas are based on the Gurren part of the machine. Thanks to that many aren't reminded of the Beastmen Gunmen but of the heroic fights of the Gurren-Lagann and the Dai-Gurren Brigade," the young pilot mentioned with a frown making Ray look down from his Gekka to the shorter pilot with a surprised look on his face.

"That is pretty much my own thoughts on it word for word. I understand the reasoning for replacing the Gekkas eventually but entirely replacing the Gunmen with these Grapearls is stupid and pointless. Anyways we are only lowly pilots and don't have much say in the matter," the senior pilot said with a nod of his head as he turned his attention back his Gekka. The younger pilot nodded in agreement and looked up at his own machine. However the two were dragged from their internal thoughts as a third more annoying voice piped up making the two flinch at the same time.

"I think that is crap myself, the Grapearls are the perfect weapon of the future for us humans, and a great replacement for these clunky and slow Gunmen. I cannot wait for them to be rolled-out and to see these relics be destroyed as junk they are," that voice mentioned making the two turn to look at a small and thin pilot looking up at the Gekkas with distaste. The two Gekka pilots frowned in unison at the third pilot, one of the Gunliner pilots and a general opponent to the constant debate on Gunmen and their future. However before either of the two Gunmen pilots could say anything in defense a sheer alarm started to sound throughout the ship calling its crew to battle. The pilots froze before rushing to the pilot locker rooms attached to the hanger while the mechanics around the hanger started to run around and prepare the various craft in the hanger for battle.

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_Bridge  
>Earth Defense Force Battleship <em>Dai-Vanguard

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Back on the bridge of the ship the bridge crew went about their duties as the ship continued on its patrol through the Great Wasteland. The various members of the crew like its attached Gunmen unit where a general mix of recently trained inexperienced newbie crew, and more experienced veterans like the ship's captain. One of the veterans happened to be Sub-Lieutenant Erika Hiru the ship's communication officer, that like the Flight Lieutenant was from the village of Hiru one of the seven villages that banded together to form the Dai-Gurren Reinforcement Force. She had been on board the _Dai-Gunkao _Type Battleship _Rokku _which been one of the four ships to survive the overall battle and been one of the two ships which caught the ejected section of the _Dai-Gurren _after it self-destructed the main hull. After the war with the _Rokku _and the other remaining _Dai-Gunkao _Type ships would be rebuilt and serve as the core of the new Defense Force's Mobile Patrol Force after several Beastmen raids made it clear the Beastmen where not about to lay down and surrender.

Now Sub-Lieutenant Erika served on board the larger _Dai-Vanguard _as its main Communication Operator. As the ship continued on she started to fiddle around with the equipment to scan through various frequencies which after the war and settlement of humans on the surface numbered nearly a hundred, though still mainly used for civilian uses. The military however used far-better Video and Holo Communications instead of older radio. She suddenly stopped with a frown and put a hand onto her headset before going back slightly a bit before cursing as a panicked voice repeated what she heard before.

"Captain! I have just received a radio report that a Beastmen Raiding Party is going after Vassal City!" she reported turning to look at the Captain who looked up himself in shock at the report before scowling in anger. Vassal City was one of the newest cities to be built, and was less defended they any of the other major Above-Ground Cities. After Kamina City was started to be built, other similar cities started to appear as well with New Littner City being the first followed by Portland City, and several others. Littner is the major industrial icon of the New Government providing them with new Gunmen and Dai-Gun Battleships. Portland is a major shipping port and fishing community which was only miles from Kamina City. Vassal City was a newer city that been built into a large mountain in the Great Wastelands, not far from where the ship was currently patrolling.

"I should have known! Sound General Quarters, Helm bring the ship about on a course for Vassal and increase speed to full, Communications send off a report on this attack to Headquarters, I doubt this is the only one, and prepare our Gunmen for launch," the Captain snapped orders to the bridge crew transforming the bridge from a quiet and tranquil place into a hive of activity as the various crewmembers burst into action to follow his orders, while a loud siren started going off bringing the crew to battle. Outside the Captain could see the ship turning away from its original course and turned towards a heading for the large mountain that is Vassal Mountain the location of the city named for the mountain.

"…all Turrets report manned and ready, Catapult Control reports catapults are powered and standing by, all battle stations reported manned and ready! Captain the ship and crew are now ready for combat sir," First Lieutenant Urieko reported from his side. The Captain nodded flinching for missing the beginning her report, but was quite pleased at the speed of the crew to reach battle stations. With a nod at the First Officer the Captain turned his attention to look over at Sub-Lieutenant Erika.

"Communications has Vassal reported on the strength of the enemy at all?" he asked with a frown. The operator simply shook her head with a frown as she continued to listen to the transmission from Vassal with a hand on her headset trying to hear anything that may help them.

"Negative Captain I only getting a general panicked radio call, it's very weak. We are lucky we managed to pick it up," the Sub-Lieutenant reported with another shake of her head. The Captain scowled at this before turning to look at the fast approaching Mountain before turning back to the Communication Operator.

"Very well then see if you get in contact with whoever is using that radio?" he ordered with a grimace well the young Sub-Lieutenant only nodded before turning back to her controls where she adjusted several before holding a hand to her headset once more.

"Vassal City, Vassal City this is the Defense Force Battleship _Dai-Vanguard _we are responding to your Distress Call, Vassal City this is the Defense Force Battleship _Dai-Vanguard _please respond," she said into her headset's mic and waited before smiling brightly and turning to look up at the Captain to give him a nod. The Captain nodded at this pleased that they managed to get a response for he didn't really want to go into something like this blind. He waved his hand at Erica who knowing what he wanted leaned forward flipped a switch on her control board piping the radio through the main bridge speakers.

"…_Dai-Vanguard _this is Vassal City. Thank the stars that we managed to get a hold of someone, these damn Beastmen Raiders knocked out our more modern communications during the initial attack. We were lucky we still had this old radio from the days of Vassal Village," the man on the other side said with relief coloring his voice. The Captain simply smiled before leaning forward in his chair and nodding to Erica.

"Vassal this is Captain Morgan Littner Commander of the _Dai-Vanguard _can you tell me what weapons they happen to have and what has happened so far?" he asked out load which was picked up by the sensitive microphones attached to the bridge speakers. After a few moments a burst static came through before the man from before responded.

"Yes we managed to get much the city inhabitants to the old Village tunnels bellow the city, and have barricaded the doors down here, but it looks like the Beastmen are not trying to get down here they are just demolishing the city and not even trying to break down to the old village," the man reported making more than a few on the bridge look up in surprise at that for while the previous raids all had large amounts of property damage they still tried to kill any human they saw.

"What about the enemy's strength Vassal?" the captain asked the other man again pleased and both worried over this report. The other man could be heard talking to someone else outside of the radio's microphone, before suddenly a high female voice yelled something before another burst of static came through.

"This is Yoko Littner, who is this?" another far different but very familiar voice demanded over the radio making many of the younger crewmembers look up in awe at both the name and voice while Captain Littner only blinked in surprise before shaking his head with a smile.

"This is Morgan Yoko, I would ask what in the world you are doing at Vassal but I shall refrain and only ask what the world is going on over there? I need some data on the enemy strength before the _Dai-Vanguard _gets there?" he replied with a soft smile on his face remembering the days of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. He heard a soft chuckle from the other end of the line, and Morgan could imagine his fellow Dai-Gurren Brigade member shaking her head.

"Well well big man Morgan managed to get a command of a full battleship, that is something unreal," Yoko responded with a smile in her words while Morgan only rolled his eyes.

"Anyways moving on, this looks like Guame's old boys mainly ground support Gunmen similar to those we trashed during the Battle of Teppelin, they also sport a small _Dai-Gun _Battleship that bears some resemblance to the _Dai-Gundo _just vastly smaller and its armor thinner then that behemoth. I actually managed to make a dent in it with my rifle; I doubt it would be able to handle cannon fire from _Vanguard_," Yoko reported clearly and calmly without the mirth laced in her voice before. The Captain nodded at this report with a frown for not many of the various Beastmen Warlords had a full-length _Dai-Gun _Battleship if they did they where beat up and barely able to be operated. Though he was quite please to hear that this mini-_Dai-Gundo _didn't sport the heavy armor of the original, for he would not be able to take it on and would have to call for some reinforcements to take it down.

"Thank you Yoko we are just about there, hopefully I will see you there. Now I need to get my people ready," he said after a moment of thinking.

"Understood Yoko and Vassal City out," she responded before a screech off static signaled that the channel was cut. Morgan could only nod at this before turning to look at the young man responsible for coordinating the ships Gunmen and Gunliners sitting next to the Communication Operator.

"Operations get me Flight Lieutenant Hiryu on the main monitor, and prepare our Gunmen for launch we shall be in range momentarily," he ordered the younger man who after shaking off his awe at actually hearing a legendary member of the Dai-Gurren Brigade quickly followed his orders. After several long moments as Vassal Mountain became ever close in the bridge's view-port the main communication monitor flash on with the face of Flight Lieutenant Ray Hiryu who looked to be already in his flight suit and in his cockpit patiently waiting. The Gunmen Pilot Flight Suit was a newly introduced item to the Defense Force; it protected the pilot from being thrown around in the cockpit and from sharp pieces thrown at the pilot from panels exploding due to battle damage.

"Flight Lieutenant it looks like we are facing some Beastmen from the old forces of General Guame, they have several ground support Gunmen and a single _Dai-Gundo _based battleship that looks to be smaller than the original and far less armored thank god. Therefore have your Gekkas take out those Gunmen while the Gun-Kaisers support the _Vanguard _while we take on that Battleship," he ordered the senior Gunmen pilot who only nodded at this for it was something they usually did.

"Understood I shall lead First Squadron to attack the enemy Gunmen while Second Squadron stays behind and supports the _Vanguard_," the pilot responded repeating his orders before logging off. The Captain could only shake his head at this before looking over to either side of the bridge to see the first two Gekka Gunmen being mounted onto the catapults. One of them he noticed is the Flight Lieutenant's which after a few moments where catapulted off the ship their levisphere equipped flight packs roaring as they took off. Soon the next two Gekkas where brought out and mounted onto the catapult. Within only minutes the eight Gekkas of First Squadron were airborne and on a heading for the now closer mountain, while the first two Gun-Kaisers of Second Squadron took their turn on the catapults. Another minute or so saw Second Squadron taking positions around the ship to support it. As the last two Gunmen took their positions around the ship the Captain could now see the city and the smoke plumes coming off from the wreckage. He took a brief look at the Gun-Kaisers of Second Squadron to see them all in position. With one pair out in front of the ship, another pair taking a high guard position over the ship itself covering its own major blind spot and the last pair floating along either side of the larger battleship. As they continued to close he could start see the smaller form of the small _Dai-Gundo _type Dai-Gun outside the village.

"Gunnery prepare a firing solution to keep that battleship busy, and make sure you keep an eye out for any surprise for even though we overpower the enemy does not mean that they don't have some surprises in store," he ordered the officer at the ships gunnery station and hid a small smile remembering Aretenborough Koachicchi at a similar console on the _Dai-Gurren_, and his crazy stunts before shaking his head to clear it.

"Sir all Gunnery Crews report ready to fire on your orders," the Gunnery officer reported after several long moments. The Captain nodded before turning to look at First Lieutenant Urieko standing faithfully at his side before turning his attention back to the Gunnery Officer.

"The order is given! Open Fire!" he snapped out and within seconds the guns of the massive battleship started to open up on the distant smaller battleship which suddenly started to spin to face the approaching _Vanguard_. The Captain simply smiled knowing that it was a great feeling to finally do something about the Beastmen Empire and once these raiding forces were taken care of the world would finally be at peace. With a wistful smile on his face the Captain turned his attention onto the battle ahead.

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>Vassal City<br>Great Wasteland  
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Vassal City, built in the shadow of Vassal Mountain is one of the newer cities built after the death of Spiral King and the fall of Teppelin. It was mainly built by the people of the smaller Vassal Village which was built into the mountain itself with some others from surrounding Villages joining in. Now it was all out destroyed thanks to the raiding Beastmen and their Gunmen, which were going through the city with a vengeance destroying anything they see. A few of them where of the type nicknamed by the humans as Big-Guns which sported heavy guns, a few others are of the type called Heavy-Guns that sported several smaller guns, and finally a handful of the more numerous Ogre types that had been mainly used by the Human Eradication Army Eastern Division. All of them were going through the city without any care in the world. However that all changed when one of the Beastmen pilots looked up in confusion at the small shadows that passed over his Gunmen before his eyes widened in surprise as the Gekkas of First Squadron came crashing down towards them. The human built Gunmen slammed into their Beastmen counterparts with a vengeance using their various hand-held weapons to start taking out the more dangerous Heavy-Guns, and Big-Guns Gunmen. A few of the Gekkas held swords that sliced through the enemy machines, while others carried the recently introduced BFA-01 Machine Pistol which tore through the armor of the enemy Gunmen like it wasn't even there to begin with. Just as all this started several crashes where heard as the _Vanguard _started to engage its smaller counterpart with its heavy guns. The smaller battleship was caught off-guard by the larger ship's bombardment and tried to desperately fight back against its vastly superior foe, but it was vastly outclassed with the handful light guns it sported doing nothing but denting the far heavier armor of its opponent. Finally a full salvo from the main guns of the _Vanguard _slammed into the smaller battleship tearing through its lighter armor before hitting the reactor destroying the enemy ship in a towering fireball. The Beastmen Gunmen still engaging the Gekkas looked over in horror at this which First Squadron ruthlessly used to their advantage. Before long the Gunmen soon joined their ship into destruction. The Defense Force was victorious, and once the city's inhabitants figured that it was all over they came streaming out of the old village tunnels cheering their saviors. This battle was now over, but unknown to the _Vanguard _and its crew it was not the only attack that happened that day. One of the people streaming out of the tunnels looked up at the towering Gekkas and the larger Battleship, and smiled wistfully before she turned to leave the city behind. Her work here was done, and she had to move on.

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>Defense Force Battleship <em>Dai-Vanguard_  
>Several Hours Later<br>_-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Several hours later after the end of the battle found the battleship racing away from the still smoking hulk that was once Vassal City. Hopefully the inhabitants would be able to rebuild the city in time, and with the help left behind by the _Vanguard _along with volunteers from nearby Villages it may not take that long. Now on the bridge of the ship Captain Lettner stood at the front of the bridge with a frown watching the now blackened landscape as night descended onto the Great Wasteland. He held a message from Defense Force HQ in Kamina City in hand as he continued to stare out of the view-port at the landscape before him. He couldn't really believe it but the attack on Vassal was one of several similar attacks all across the planet aimed at the growing above ground cities. Luckily many of those attacks were thwarted, but they had only been feints to pull Defense Force units away from their main target, New Littner City and its massive armories that built the weapons needed by the Defense Force to counter the Beastmen raids. Luckily for the Defense Forces the city took only light damages, thanks to one of the Dai-Gun Battleships that been docked to receive its upgrades had broken out of its dock and faced the enemy attack managing to hold it off till reinforcements arrived to help.

Even then his home had been attacked, and he had been badly out of position to stop it granted Littner was several miles and an ocean away but still he felt almost reasonable for it. With a sigh he turned away from the view-port knowing that it wasn't his fault and he did manage to save a lot of people. Morgan quickly shook his head before stepping over to his command chair and sank into it with a groan.

"Captain I have finished the report you asked for," a voice mentioned dragging him from his thoughts and made him turn to see First Lieutenant Urieko with a noteputer in hand. He smiled at her before accepting it from the beastwoman looking it over briefly before nodding pleased at what it said.

"Wonderful thank you," he responded to her with a smile before handing it back with a nod of his head. The first officer took it back with a deep frown before looking over at her captain with a worried look.

"They are getting smarter, and learning from their mistakes," Urieko mentioned making the Captain only nod in agreement.

"Yes they are indeed learning. It is going to be a long few months, with the rest of the fleet in dock to receive those upgrades," he responded in kind wondering what further fights lay in the future and if they ever managed to have true peace. With a heartfelt sigh the captain turned his attention out at the passing landscape as well hoping against hope that eventually he would see peace come to the world.

-o-Fin-o-

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To Be Continued in Intermezzo Part Two…

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**Afterword**

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Well now here is my first Gurren Laggan Fanfiction, and I hope everyone has enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now let me take a few moments to explain several things that may have gotten a few reactions. First of all yes I know that the Grapearls become the main mecha unit for the Human Forces after the time-skip but they were not developed over night. Therefore the Defense Force created the Gekka Type Gunmen, which are heavily based on the Gurren itself just without the sunglasses and only one shoulder shield. Yes I borrowed the name from Code Geass since these new Gunmen are based on a mecha called the Gurren I thought I have these new mecha named after the Knightmares that had been created from data on the similar named machine. This is just a small nod to Code Geass. Also the Gun-Kaisers are something I threw in at the last moment when I thought the general purpose Gekkas needed some heavy fire support if needed hence the creation of the Gun-Kaisers.

Next the Dai-Guns mentioned in this story are basically the ones we see in the last few episodes with the _Dai-Gunkao _being the ships that arrived to support the _Dai-Gurren_. The Kao part of the name is Japanese for Faced, or at least that is what the Google Translator says it is. The _Dai-Gunkon _on the other hand are the purple cone-shaped ships that launch from the Dekabutsu after it is revealed. Kon of course means Cone, again at least what Google Translator says it is. As for the final ship revealed here the _Dai-Vanguard_,the main ship of the story, which is basically the _Dai-Gunzan Two _from the Movies that had been captured by the humans after the Fall of Teppelin and later rebuilt in its current form. Basically it has shorter legs, which are equipped with a new hovering system similar to the Levispheres which allow it to hover across the ground at a face pace. This makes the _Vanguard _far more maneuverable and faster than the _Dai-Gurren _at least before it got a Levisphere anyways. It also replaces it catapult arms with dedicated catapult decks, which I blame on my love of Gundam and their ships. /shrugs/

The Ranks for the Defense Force are something I threw together for the purpose of this story, since we really don't really see a set ranking system for the new Defense Force in the series at all beside Simon being the Supreme Commander. First we have the Captain like Morgan in this story, followed by the First Lieutenant who is usually the first officer similar to old Navy rank of a similar nature, next there is Second Lieutenant who are usually section heads or commanders of infantry companies, or even a smaller Gunmen Team, then there is Sub-Lieutenant the most common rank in the military, and finally Ensign which is your average Gunmen Pilot, or most junior officer anywhere else. Flight Lieutenant is a rank specifically given to the lead pilot aboard a ship, and is often the same level as the first officer.

Finally we get to the idea more cities popping up then just Kamina City, it is implied in the series that Kamina City is the only city build above-ground but I kind of changed it with the addition of several new cities, though they remain only a small number. This is an idea I had and decided to go through with it. These cities basically support the far-larger Kamina City instead of being their own city.

Now I would like to mention that the ideas for Littner becoming the source of human built weapons like the Gekkas is an idea I had for my own rewrite of the series that I have little time to write therefore mentioned here as an aside. Also included from my planned rewrite of the series is the Gekka Gunmen, which the Dai-Gurren Brigade received several from Littner before the Battle of Teppelin to bolster their Gunmen Squadron. However here they are shown in upgraded form as the main Gunmen of the new Earth Defense Forces in this story. Ray Hiryu is a character that is created for this story as well and makes an appearance here as the lead pilot on the _Vanguard_. As for the character of Urieko, she was created when I saw a few beastwoman in Kamina City or later onboard the _Arc-Gurren _with bunny or wolf-like ears but still possess a human like body similar to Viral. Her name is of course combining the DNA Chemical Uridine and Neko which makes sense.

Anyways that is about it, and I must apologize for the next story in this small series of mine might take a while to write due to Script-Frenzy and other stuff happening. I hope to get something started once I get caught up with Script-Frenzy, though don't expect anything till May. With that said I bid you all a farewell and go keep some sleep.


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